Long Range .30s

[Joel Russo]

Initially I wanted a wildcat, for a custom build (which is why I chose what I did), but I am beginning to think that down the road, other calibers may be easier to deal with because of component availability.

Based on what you told us here, your logical choice is the .300 RUM or the .338 RUM.
It all comes down to personal choice, as there's no animal in North America that would walk away from either.
Barrel life between the two would be similar... you'll decide to re-barrel to something else before you shoot it out.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Joel, I was loading last night and checked the old invoices on my 416 Rigby brass. Last year I paid $145.30/100 for the Jamison brass and $23.99/20 for the Hornady brass. With the way it went up this year it is probably a bit higher. Last year Cabelas ran a special on 378 wby brass for $51.99 per 50. Thank goodness I bought all they had(250). Now it is $55/20

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Based on what you told us here, your logical choice is the .300 RUM or the .338 RUM.
It all comes down to personal choice, as there's no animal in North America that would walk away from either.
Barrel life between the two would be similar... you'll decide to re-barrel to something else before you shoot it out.

Joel,

Are you saying the barrel life between the 300 RUM and 338 RUM are similar? From everything I've read the 300 will typically last about 1000 rounds and the 338 much longer. Have you experienced something differnt?

Mark

 

[BountyHunter]

Joel,

Are you saying the barrel life between the 300 RUM and 338 RUM are similar? From everything I've read the 300 will typically last about 1000 rounds and the 338 much longer. Have you experienced something differnt?

Mark

gun)Oh God ...

another barrel life question between the 300 and 338 RUM.. the last one working this week has degenerated into a first class cat fight.

Have fun and play nice now.


BH

 

[RockyMtnMT]

gun)Oh God ...

another barrel life question between the 300 and 338 RUM.. the last one working this week has degenerated into a first class cat fight.

Have fun and play nice now.


BH

Maybe here we will get a number, or something other than alot longer.

Steve

 

[MontanaRifleman]

gun)Oh God ...

another barrel life question between the 300 and 338 RUM.. the last one working this week has degenerated into a first class cat fight.

Have fun and play nice now.


BH

BH,

No cat fight intended here I would love nothing more than to hear that my 300 RUM will last 2000 rounds or more.... but there is a big difference in bore between the two... so I assume, as well as have read, that there is also a big difference in expected barrel life.

 

[Joel Russo]

Joel,

Are you saying the barrel life between the 300 RUM and 338 RUM are similar? From everything I've read the 300 will typically last about 1000 rounds and the 338 much longer. Have you experienced something differnt?

Mark

No cat fight here, better things to do than speculate or argue about barrel life or expected barrel life...

Technically, the .338 will have a longer barrel life than the .300.
Barrel life depends on many factors, not just round count.
I have put over 1,500 rounds down a .300 RUM barrel with little to no degradation in accuracy. It will take a reasonable amount of time to put over 1,000 rounds through the barrel of either hunting hunting rifle. So, in terms of barrel life, they will both last a long time.
The .338 may last a bit more, but to me that's similar barrel life... we're not comparing a 6x.284 to the .338 RUM.
My point was that by the time he gets to that point, he's probably going to want to re-barrel to something else in the wildcat arena like he said. The shot out barrel will not be his deciding factor.



Long Time Ranger,
Good thing you bought when you did, prices certainly went up. I have a few hundred pieces of Norma, so I'm good for a while.

 

[Chas1]

I got what Joel was saying the first time. +1 if it's a custom barrel but, If you get a 1000+ out of a remy barrel...God bless...one of those factors.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

RockyMt, You will not get an exact number unless you are talking to someone without a lot of experience who might give you a number based on there one rifle. The next guy might get double that or half that number. Just way to many factors to consider. I have seen a guy ruin a barrel in one day at the range and another guy get 1500+ rounds out of the same set up. All you can do is comparitively estimate barrel life between two rifles. For instance a guy wants to know the difference in barrel life between the 300 ultramag and 338 ultramag. The answer is you will get longer barrel life out of the 338 ultramag but the exact number depends on your individual shooting/cleaning style, barrel manufacturer, and many other things. There is no exact answer to your question.

I can tell you from quite a bit of experience that the 30-378 wby is an extreme barrel burner. Your 30-338 lapua is a little better. I quit doing the 30-378 quite a few years ago because of that fact. I have measured substantial throat erosion on the 30-378 in 500 rounds in some cases. Fun rifles to shoot and I loved shooting mine but barrel life can be short. My pet 30-378 was gone after 750 rounds if you want a number there. By comparison I sold my 338 Lapua imp after 500 rounds and the guy who bought it I know has over1500 rounds through it and it still shoots outstanding. I have a 338-378 wby that I built many years ago that has over 2000 rounds through it and it still shoots great. So judging by that limited data you could say the 338 barrel could last twice as long or more. I wish you the best and 10,000 rounds through your 30-338 lapua but neither me or anyone else could tell you an exact number.

I had to come back in and clear up the post a little. To confusing to begin with.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

If I get that many rounds out of it, I'll bet I could sell a few Lilja barrels. I wasn't trying to pin anyone down on a number for the 338's, I just find it fascinating that people are quick to throw out the 1000 round number for the hot 30's, but no one ever seems to throw out a number for the fairly hot 338's.

Steve

 

[Nomad]

As some have stated 338 would be a good choice for barrel life.....
As the cost of bass the 338 Edge shoots with the Lapua and shoot 2000 yds
with no problems bullet choice starts about 160 - 300gr and
not near as costly as many of the others spoke of....

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Rockymtnmt, I understand, maybe the answer is it is hard to wear out a big 338 and there is not much data on it. Some of the 1000 yard match shooters here would be the ones to answer this with a better number since they put plenty of shots down range and know when there groups begin to spread a little. I am a hunter and when I get my load right and zeroed the rifle doesn't get much work. I have well over a hundred rifles to shoot and that limits it also.

This is long range hunting site so I guess most guys spend the money for a top long range rig, get everything worked out with it, and then it doesn't get much work except to check zero and hunting. That would be wise since most are on the top end of performance which is directly associated with limited barrel life. For instance Kirby on here has all the Allen magnums which are some of the best long range hunting rigs around. But I would work up my load, zero and use it for only hunting after that. It would last a guy many years then. If he shot it regularly at the range the hunting life would be shortened with it.

Bottom line is I have worked with about everything out there which is commonly talked about on this forum except the chey-tac and 50 BMG stuff. I have owned and seen a number of big 30's shot out. During the late 90's I built near a hundred 338-300 ultramags and still get emails from many of those guys. I do not know of a one of them that has been shot out. I have shot the big 338's since the 70's and have not shot one out. My first 340 wby built in the mid 70's has well over 2500 rounds through it and still shoots a 250 sierra game king at 3050 fps very accurately. I have personal 338-300 ultramags, 338 lapuas and 338-378 wby's with over 1500 rounds through them that have still have good throats and shoot just as good as they did when I built them years ago. My big 7mm's and 30's have long since been recycled because of throat errosion. Those include the 30-338 lapua imp, 30-378 wby and the like along with the 7mm-300 ultramag. When remington released the specs on the 300 ultramag case years ago I had it wildcatted to 7mm, 338, 358 and 375 with three months of the release of that info. The 7mm barrel was gone in 750 rounds like the 30-378. I still have at least two of all the other calibers and all are still shooting great.

From all of this I would gather that once you get to 338 caliber and above barrel life goes up considerably. Big 7mm's and smaller don't last very long, and some huge 30's are about as bad.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I like you am a hunter. A thousand round barrel life will last me a long time. I'll be luck to get 50 per year through my 30cal when I am not doing load development. That's 20 years.

Steve

 

[Michael Eichele]

Deleted.